


Sing It Out (Sing it From the Heart)

by spicysoo



Category: Given (Anime), Given (Manga)
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Insecurity, Itaya/Ueki if you squint, Karaoke, Male Friendship, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Music, Songfic, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-26
Updated: 2020-11-26
Packaged: 2021-03-10 07:54:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27719852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spicysoo/pseuds/spicysoo
Summary: Ritsuka doesn't like to sing, but somehow Mafuyu convinces him to do karaoke with the guys.
Relationships: Satou Mafuyu/Uenoyama Ritsuka
Comments: 4
Kudos: 67





	Sing It Out (Sing it From the Heart)

If there was one thing that Ritsuka struggled with when it came to music: it was anything related to singing. Ritsuka did not sing. He was confident in his guitar playing and his ability to write songs, but he was not a good singer. He couldn’t sing like Mafuyu or Hiiragi or any of the artists that he listened to, so Ritsuka had done everything that he could to keep that lack of talent to himself. 

Karaoke sessions were non-existent. There was no humming to songs. There was no impromptu acapella sessions at any of the music venues the band would play. There was nothing. 

Ritsuka did not sing—he could not sing, and that was never going to change. 

His inability to sing was one of the things that had initially drawn him to the Seasons. None of them had been looking for a singer when they had gotten together. They were an instrumental group, and while Haruki had a pleasant voice, Haruki wasn’t looking to do that. While Kaji-san had straight-up refused to sing in the group, but it didn’t stop the older man from occasionally having too much to drink while letting loose at karaoke. 

Which Ritsuka wasn’t supposed to know about, but when Yayoi and Haruki had mentioned Kaji-san’s skills, it was hard not to listen to them complain about the other man. Kaji-san was pretty amazing at everything else in his life, so he should have known that the drummer would have been good at singing too. 

Ritsuka, on the other hand? 

He was worse than Haruki on a bad day, and he hated how his voice sounded anyway. He was sure his shower head had wept the few times that he had tried singing. While the one time that his sister had heard him sing, she had told him that he had sounded like a dying cat.

Ritsuka was sure that she had been exaggerating, but it had been more than enough for him to take those comments personally. He hadn’t been upset when he had heard them, but it didn’t give him the warm fuzzies about singing either. 

Then, with Given, he didn’t need to sing because Mafuyu had that covered. 

Mafuyu was amazing, and Ritsuka wonders how the other could go years without showing off his voice. The first time that he had heard Mafuyu sing, Mafuyu had lit something within him, and ever since, he hasn’t been able to get enough of it. 

_Mafuyu had the pipes, while Ritsuka could do everything else._

There was no need for him to torture others with his voice, so when Mafuyu had mentioned that Itaya had wanted to do some karaoke, Ritsuka found himself saying no. Only for his boyfriend to give him his blasted puppy dog eyes and had promised him kisses, Ritsuka couldn’t help but reconsider. 

Mafuyu hadn’t said anything about him needing to sing, so as much as Ritsuka had been prone to skipping stuff like that before, he had decided that he could go this one time. 

Instead of singing, he would eat his weight in snacks and fade into the background as his boyfriend, Itaya, and Ueki would sing in his place. The setup had been perfect... Until it wasn’t. 

After an hour of the three taking turns to sing in the mic while Ritsuka quietly ate his snacks, Ritsuka had not been prepared for Mafuyu to ask him what he had wanted to sing. 

Almost choking on his melon soda, Ritsuka roughly coughing as he shook his head, he was quick to mumble, “No, you guys go. There’s nothing I want to sing, so don’t waste a song on me.” 

Only for Mafuyu to give him a sad, puppy dog look, while Itaya followed up with a shout, “You won’t be wasting a song. We want to hear Ue-sama sing!”

“If I have to sing, you have to sing.” Ueki roughly mumbled as he took a long sip of his drink before stealing one of Itaya’s pieces of fried chicken. 

“What?! That’s not right; I don’t have to sing because Itaya forced you into singing!” 

“Uenoyama-kun, why not? Isn’t karaoke fun?” Mafuyu softly asked him, tilting his head in a way that had almost caused Ritsuka to have a heart attack. 

He hated it when his boyfriend did stupid, everyday stuff like tilting his head or drink his iced green tea with a straw and make it look cute. It drove him nuts because ordinary people didn’t look cute doing everyday things, yet Mafuyu could. It was like he was an immortal god or something, and Ritsuka was lucky that Mafuyu had thought he was good enough to be in his presence. 

“Eh, n-not really. Singing’s not my thing… Guitar’s my thing, so…” Trailing off, unable to answer Mafuyu’s question unless he wanted to sound dumb, Ritsuka was quick to continue, “You guys are on a roll, and I’m enjoying my snacks—”

“Snacks? You can’t just eat snacks. That’s not what karaoke is about!” Itaya interrupted, only for Ritsuka’s cheeks to flush in anger, “It totally is! You guys don’t need to hear me sing for this to be fun. I’m having more than enough fun hearing you guys sing, so let’s get back to that, alright?”

Feeling Mafuyu’s hand grasp his thigh, the appendage easily hidden by the table, Ritsuka had almost self-combusted at the sudden warmth that he was suddenly able to feel. Cheeks and ears turning red for a completely different reason, Ritsuka wasn’t prepared for Ueki to say, “Is the great Ue-sama afraid to sing?” 

Which only caused Itaya to turn to Ueki in surprise, “Ryou-chan, how did you think of that?”

While Ueki could only shrug, “Makes sense… He’s good at so many other things; maybe singing isn’t one of those things.” 

“Uenoyama, it’s okay if you suck. Ryou-chan and I suck compared to Sato, so it’s okay if you’re not as good as him. That should be no reason for you to be scared, right, Sato?”

Mafuyu could only nod, hand gripping onto his thigh tighter, “Ue-kun, it’s okay if you’re not good. You can’t be worse than Itaya here.” 

“Hey! That’s not fair!”

Ritsuka was definitely worse than Itaya, and no one in that room needed to know that. 

“I’m not afraid! I just don’t want to sing, and people don’t have to sing at karaoke, so let’s just have one of you take the next one, alright?”

“Uenoyama-kun, it’s only one song… We won’t bug you to do another one.” Mafuyu softly said, voice almost purring as he spoke. 

While Ueki, not caring if Mafuyu and Ritsuka were weird, could only give, “If you sing, I’ll buy you another soda.” 

“Ryou-chan, you can’t buy Uenoyama soda before me.” Itaya mumbled as he punched his friend’s shoulder, only for Ueki to roll his eyes, “I’ll buy you both sodas, alright?

“Thanks!”

Seeing his friends not take the hint, while Mafuyu kept on giving him these stupid, puppy dog eyes that easily had him thinking of Kedama, Ritsuka could only growl, “Fine! I’ll sing, but I’m not going to sing another song, no matter how much you beg.”

There would be no begging, Ritsuka was sure of it… None of them would want to ask him to sing again.

Grabbing the music binder to look through it quietly, Ritsuka couldn’t help but frown at his favorite group's lack of songs. However, knowing that he’d have to pick something, Ritsuka continued to look, only to perk up at the thought of doing a piece by Nirvana. Only for Ritsuka to talk himself out of it because Kurt Cobain had a deep, raspy voice, while Ritsuka… Ritsuka’s voice was weird and awful sounding, so doing something like _In Bloom_ or _Come as You_ Are was definitely a no. Browsing through the other rock/alternative songs until he had seen a piece by a group that Kaji-san had told him to try out, Ritsuka forced himself to type the song ID into the machine. 

Coldrain. 

He liked them enough to have a couple of their songs on repeat.

Standing up and taking the mic, Ritsuka forcing himself to appear confident, grouched, “Don’t laugh if it’s not to your expectations. I gave you guys the chance to keep on singing, alright?”

“Whatever, Ue-sama, just sing!” Itaya laughed as Ueki gave him a smirk, while Mafuyu was a little more encouraging with his words, “You got this!”

Turning his back to the three and giving a long sigh as the sound of a piano started to fill the room, Ritsuka couldn’t help but think back to all the times that he had played this song on his MP3 player. Ritsuka quick to look up the translated lyrics, only to find himself mouthing the words and wondering how they would taste on his tongue. Ritsuka didn’t sing, but whenever this song would play, he sometimes felt the urge to sing… A desire he had quickly grasped onto because otherwise, he’d never be able to get past the first verse.

Taking one last breath, trying to ignore the sudden warmth of the room, Ritsuka began to sing:

**_Knew that this would happen, right from the start_ **

**_Day by day the distance tears us apart_ **

**_Sitting with this useless phone in my hand_ **

**_It’s harder cause I know that you understand_ **

Thanking his lucky stars that he had listened to this song enough times to know the English lyrics well enough, Ritsuka found himself continuing into the chorus. The music washing over him, dousing him with a confidence that he didn’t know he had, Ritsuka’s voice got stronger as he sang:

**_And even if I make this call_ **

**_The pain won’t go_ **

**_The pain won’t go away_ **

**_But maybe if I let you know_ **

**_You make me stronger_ **

**_Could you hold on for me?_ **

Hearing zero words of disgust from his friends and boyfriend, Ritsuka caught himself wondering if he should continue. 

Maybe he was so terrible that the three didn’t even feel comfortable giving their opinions because he was beyond awful and that he should never attempt something like this again.

“ _Ritsuka_ … Keep on going; you’re doing good.” Almost dropping the mic as Mafuyu had gently whispered those words into his ear. His boyfriend’s hand gripping onto his shoulder in encouragement; Ritsuka could feel the tips of his ears starting to turn pink again. He hoped the blush that he was sporting hadn’t extended to the back of his neck.

Not only would it have been embarrassing, but he and Mafuyu were supposed to be keeping their relationship to themselves. Mafuyu whispering his name, hopefully not loud enough for the others to hear, Ritsuka couldn’t help but be confused as well.

Mafuyu had just called him _Ritsuka._

His boyfriend just called him by his first name and Ritsuka had no idea how to take it. If that wasn’t enough, Mafuyu had to have a screw loose as well, because if Mafuyu had wanted him to continue singing, he had to be crazy.

His voice was dreadful, so unless Mafuyu was teasing him, Ritsuka was confused. 

Very, very confused.

However, instead of trying to make sense of Mafuyu’s words, Ritsuka had found it easier to sing than think. At least then, he could keep his back turned to his friends and boyfriend so that he could calm his racing heart down.

Mafuyu was going to be the death of him… Like _damn it_ , he needed to get a grip.

Voice getting higher to meet the demands of the song, Ritsuka losing himself in it. Ritsuka sang and sang and sang, and when the music crescendoed, Ritsuka’s voice pursued.

**_The pain won’t go_ **

**_The pain won’t go away_ **

Eventually finding himself at the very last line of the song, Ritsuka almost feeling good about the words that had come from his mouth, Ritsuka squared his shoulders with the intention to turn around.

It was now or never: he had to face the music.

He could easily picture the looks on Ueki and Itaya’s faces as they would tell him that he needed to retire from singing and that he should just stick to guitar. Mafuyu was the singer, while Ritsuka’s voice was trash. If he ever had to sing again, he’d be doing a disservice to everyone’s ears.

Mafuyu’s reaction would be weird, especially after the other had told him to continue singing, but that couldn’t be due to his voice. Mafuyu had probably wanted to be a supportive boyfriend about the event, because there was no way that Mafuyu had been serious.

His showerhead had always been honest, so Ritsuka could only prepare himself for the inevitable.

“Uenoyama, what the… When did you learn how to sing?!” 

“I know, I know. I’m completely terrible. I was—wait, what?”

“Sato, did you know that Uenoyama could sing?” Ueki softly inquired as he turned his attention to Mafuyu. Only for the other to shake his head, “I didn’t…”

“Really? Doesn’t everyone in Given sing, at least a little bit?” Itaya pondered, ignoring Ritsuka’s incredulous look.

“Not really. I’ve only heard Haruki sing, while Kaji-san has never sung in front of us.” Mafuyu softly mentioned, head tilting as he continued, “Uenoyama-kun has mentioned that Kaji-san can sing, but he just doesn’t like to… Unless alcohol is involved.”

Angry at being ignored by the three, especially since they had to be taking crazy, Ritsuka was quick to interrupt, “I don’t know what you guys are talking about, but I don’t know how to sing. That song should have told you that.”

Which only caused the three to laugh, Itaya almost falling over in the process as he gasped, “Uenoyama, you are so dumb. Who told you that you couldn’t sing? Like you’re not Mafuyu good, but damn, you’re so unfair. I kind of wanted you to suck, but you don’t!”

“Shougo’s right. Why do you not suck? You totally had us with your ‘Don’t laugh if it’s not up to your expectations’ that I was preparing myself for you to sound like a dying cat or something.” 

“Uenoyama-kun, you were amazing… I was… I was really surprised.” Mafuyu admitted, and if Ritsuka weren’t so in tune with his boyfriend as he was, he probably would have missed the hidden _What made you pick me? What made you think you weren’t good enough?_

“Mafuyu, Given wouldn’t be Given without you. Haruki and Kaji-san would probably kick me to the curb before you. I’m just the guitar guy, y’know?”

Giving his boyfriend a nod, even though he wasn’t completely satisfied with Ritsuka’s answer, Mafuyu had found himself wondering, “What if we sang a song together?” 

Blushing at the thought, unable to understand why his singing was such a big deal, Ritsuka softly groaned, “Don’t talk crazy, you’re Given’s singer. I just play guitar. No need to make it complicated.”

Frowning at Ritsuka’s words, but figuring that the two could talk about his boyfriend’s insecurity later, Mafuyu gave Ritsuka’s shoulder another comforting squeeze. Maybe Haruki and Kaji-san could help get Ritsuka to believe in his voice, especially since Itaya had been able to record Ritsuka singing without his knowledge. The other teen had wanted to save the moment as soon as he realized that Ritsuka not only had a pleasant voice, but he was surprisingly talented as well. 

Ritsuka wasn’t a Mafuyu, but Ritsuka’s rendition of the song had still given all of them chills. So much so that Mafuyu had wanted Ritsuka to sing another, “You up for one more?

“Please sing, then I don’t have to listen to Shougo attempt another AKB48 song and completely butcher it.”

“Ryou-chan, you are so mean!” Itaya yelled before jumping onto the other boy, telling him that he needed to take that back. Only for Ueki to laugh and force Itaya over his shoulder, “I’m just telling the truth, not my fault you’re a terrible singer Shougo.”

Shaking his head at his friends, Ritsuka feeling as if he had sung more than enough, Ritsuka softly vocalized, “Maybe next time.” 

Only for Mafuyu to give him a dubious look before he was grinning. A sudden idea popping itself into his head as he swiftly moved close enough to whisper something into Ritsuka’s ear, “If you sing another song, I’ll kiss you later.” 

Feeling his ears turn red for what was probably the hundredth time that day, Ritsuka wanted to kick himself at how easy it was for Mafuyu to grab his attention. Never mind how obvious his feelings could be for the other boy.

Itaya and Ueki knew that Mafuyu was his favorite, but if Mafuyu had been a girl or if the two were privy to their relationship, the two would have easily teased him for blushing too much.

Deciding to give Mafuyu a ‘Cool it’ look, Ritsuka eventually pinched the bridge of his nose as he caved, “Fine, but let me catch my breath.” 

Smiling even wider in response, but extremely grateful towards Ritsuka’s caring nature, Mafuyu couldn’t help but give Itaya and Ueki a thumbs up. At the same time, he announced, “One more song from each of us, then Uenoyama-kun’s will do another, alright?”

“Alright, but if Shougo sucks too much, I say we kick him off the island and have Ritsuka go on instead.” 

Ignoring the scuffle breaking out between Ueki and Itaya, Ritsuka feebly shuffled to the bench once again. The idea that Ritsuka had three songs to think about what Mafuyu and the guys had just said… The concept that Ritsuka could either convince the others that he wasn’t a singer or that he could accept his fate of singing once again lay heavily on his mind.

He was Given’s guitarist, and even if Mafuyu and the others had liked his voice, he could never take Mafuyu’s spot. 

Ritsuka wasn’t a singer.

He didn’t know if he _wanted_ to sing… Or if it was even possible for him to write and sing a song with Given… Or if it was possible to sing with Mafuyu…

He had no answers, but as he quietly listened to his boyfriend and friends sing their songs, Ritsuka thumbing through the song binder once again, his heart kind of ached. 

Mortified at the want that nestled into his chest cavity, Ritsuka had to force himself into believing that this would be the last and only time that he would sing for Mafuyu and his friends. 

Too bad his shower head would be unable to accept that. 

_Neither would Mafuyu._

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading. This was my attempt at fluff and while I'm pretty sure I did not succeed, I still hope you guys liked it. Ritsuka's VA being a singer was the main inspiration for this fic. The song Ritsuka sang is called Gone and it's by a metalcore group called coldrain. I know I could have had Ritsuka sing a song from the Arctic Monkeys or any other British Alternative/Rock group, but I could not picture Uchida Yuuma's voice being a good fit for some of those groups. It also does not help that I only listen to a handful of British Alternative artists/bands, so I picked a song from one of the groups I have had on repeat for the past couple of weeks. Sadly, it was between this, a song by All Time Low, MCR (which I used for the title), chvrches, something on my 80's playlist, or a kpop girl group song... Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this. Drop a kudos if you liked it and if you have some time and you want to, please comment.


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